Rockstar Games has quietly removed content that existed in the original release of GTA V from the next-generation console versions of the game. Transgender activists have celebrated the move as a win against “transphobia.”
Reddit user u/JayProspero first noticed that a toy displayed in the Arcade business office had been quietly changed by Rockstar. The “Captain Spacetoy” figure with “interchangeable genitalia” on the PS4 version of the game had been swapped to a generic male figure with “posable vomit direction” on the PS5 port.
Rockstar has also disabled the drag queen character models that spawn outside the Cockatoo night club. The models are still accessible in Director mode, but their voice lines have been removed.
The models still exist in Director Mode at the moment, but their dialogue options have been removed (presumably this means protagonist dialogue lines to these NPCs about using hormones etc are therefore unused now too).
PC vs PS5. Thanks @SpiderVice for the PC screens. pic.twitter.com/rjkKkMfBtG
— Kirsty Cloud (@kirstycloud) April 8, 2022
An LGBT group called Out Making Games that wants to “address and overcome the barriers that exist for LGBTQ+ professionals in the industry, both by transforming policies and institutions, and by changing hearts and minds through education,” has taken credit for telling Rockstar to remove the content.
“Last year we wrote an open letter to Rockstar Games, calling on them to remove transphobic content from Grand Theft Auto 5’s next gen release,” Out Making Games said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to say that it appears they have.”
“Grand Theft Auto V is a wildly popular game with millions of players worldwide and this change can have a huge impact on the way that those players see trans people,” the statement continued. “Thank you to everyone at Rockstar who prioritized this issue – we ourselves are game developers and understand that even small changes like this take coordinated time and effort.”
Rockstar Games has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the GTA franchise in recent months, ranging from the poorly-received “Grand Theft Auto; The Trilogy; The Definitive Edition” to the new “GTA +” subscription service for next-gen GTA online console players who can pay to receive DLC content earlier.
